


Irdu

by AsylumFarm



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:10:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1919373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsylumFarm/pseuds/AsylumFarm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and his team have a strange encounter while checking on a remote colony.  The mission should have been simple, but something is not right here. Written for the Spring MEBigBang.  Art by the wonderful and talented MythicBeast (http://mythicbeast.tumblr.com).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irdu

Commander Shepard tossed his jacket on the back of the chair. The accommodations were not luxurious, but given the general state of the colony it was as good as he could hope for. The plan had been to land, check out the situation with the colonists, look for that Salarian merchant’s wayward package and get the hell out. None of them had anticipated what they would find, and now it looked like they were stuck here for the night. Shepard sighed as he sprawled on the tiny bed, it was really no more than a thin mattress on the floor, and made him long for het comfort of his own bed back aboard the Normandy.  
The mattress was lumpy and had a vaguely musty smell to it, but it looked clean and he didn’t see any bugs on it. His booted feet were propped on the far end and he stared at them listlessly for a moment. He allowed himself a brief moment to regret getting involved with this mission. The Salarian had been adamant that the package was on this planet and with this colony in particular. It was also one of the colonies that still need to be checked up on to make sure the Geth had not gotten a foot hold. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, kill two birds with one stone and what now.  
Frankly, now that they were here, Shepard felt like the Geth may be the least of this colony’s problems. Their arrival was met with such bland indifference that at first he thought them to be the shell shocked survivors of some kind of catastrophe. It was not what they had expected. The colony was listed as an experimental farming colony, but these people did not look like farmers, most seemed to be thin and frail, their demeanor almost like sleep walkers. He and his crew had been greeted by a single young woman at the port; her skin was grey and pale, almost gaunt. Her voice had been nearly inflectionless, like the life had been drained right out of her.  
“Commander, Welcome to Irdu,” she said. Her eyes were flat and dull.  
“What seems to be the problem here?” Shepard asked the woman, but she simply gave a wan smile and started talking about a meeting with the local government. The colony was semi-autonomous, funded by a wealthy family from Earth. Their oldest daughter had a fascination with the myth of the rugged frontiersman in the outer colonies and they had indulged her fantasy by creating this colony. Shepard knew all too well the reality of life in the furthest reaches of the systems and had not been surprised to learn that the girl had headed home to Daddy’s mansion after only a year; succumbing to a strange wasting illness only months later. The colony had stayed. There had been talk of dismantling it and sending everyone home, rumors that the girl had picked up a disease out her in the outpost, but all communication with the colonists proved that no illness was running rampant through the community. They were all healthy and happy. They wished to stay. The matter had been dropped and as far as he knew, no one had thought much about Irdu in the last quarter century.  
Without the funding from the original backers, the colony had to become self-sufficient. There was very little traffic out this far, but somehow they had managed to scrape by. Looking around, Shepard was surprised that they had survived; the place was in poor repair, the hanger was barely more than a tin shed in the middle of a barren plane.  
“How many of you are left?” Liara asked from behind Shepard. The look on her face told John she was thinking the same thing he was. This was not going to be a simple mission. They were not going to be able to look for the package and report back that all was well. All was far from well. This was beginning to look like a rescue mission.  
“50 men and women live on Irdu,” the clerk replied. Her voice was almost as colorless as her face. “The colony began with 52, but the founder and her lover left after the first 12 months. All others are still present.” The official reports had not mentioned a lover. Shepard frowned. Who had returned to Earth with the ill-fated spoiled brat?  
“That was over 25 years ago,” Garrus sounded skeptical. The Turian was looking around at the dusty crates and unused parts. “Surely there have been some who have died and more born. You are not old enough to have been in the original number.”  
“Of the original 52 members of the colony, 50 - .” Her name tag said Beverly.  
“You mentioned that, Beverly,” Shepard interrupted her. “We are on a tight schedule. Why don’t you take us to that meeting so we can get to work?” Beverly barely reacted to his rudeness; she simply turned and walked away, not even checking to see if they followed. Perhaps they would get more answers from the people overseeing the colony.  
“Why do they have her as the first one to meet anyone coming in?” Liara wondered aloud. “It might explain why there is so little traffic.”  
“Something is not quite right here, Commander,” Garrus added. It took all of Shepard’s self-control to keep him from pointing out that stating the obvious was not going to help.  
The walk to the building serving as the local government was not long, the entire colony did not take up the space that 8 city blocks would back on earth. The low buildings and unpaved streets gave it the air of a summer camp run amuck. There was no one on the streets and the entire city felt still and empty.  
“You said there were 50 colonists here,” Shepard prompted. Beverly just looked back over her shoulder and nodded.  
“Where is everyone?” He asked. The eerily quiet colony was getting to him.  
“They are doing what they need to do,” Beverly replied, stopping before the door of a pieced together building. It looked like it might have once been a cargo pod. She pushed aside the ragged curtain serving as a door and gestured for them to go inside. Surely the climate was not mild enough for this flimsy barrier to be the only way they kept the buildings sealed. He frowned, this place got stranger and stranger.  
“After you,” Shepard tried to keep his tone light, but he suddenly felt like a thousand eyes were watching them. He had no intention of entering the room first.  
“There is no need to be suspicious, Commander,” Beverly said in her monotone voice. “But if it will make you feel better, I will gladly enter first.”  
“What is going on here?” Liara spoke behind him. “This is weirder than the colony at Zhu’s hope.”  
“Oh shit,” Shepard hissed. Things were starting to fall into place.  
“I am in agreement,” Garrus added. “If we are looking at a new or additional colony infected by the Thorian, we may have a much larger problem than originally thought.” Beverly chose this moment to re-emerge from the building with a puzzled look on her face. Shepard did not bother explaining, he simply squeezed past her into the cramped front room of what passed for a city hall. Garrus and Liara were close behind him, trying to adjust to the abruptly dim light inside the former cargo pod.   
There was a battered old metal desk in front of them with a single weak light on it. It was cluttered with stacks of papers, many showing dates over 5 years in the past. Of course most work would be on data-pads, why would these be sitting around?  
That concern left his mind quickly when he saw the man behind the desk. He looked no older than 30 with dark glossy hair and clear bright eyes. He could not tell in this light if they were green or brown, but the thick dark lashes around his eyes gave Shepard a strange fluttering in his stomach. He quickly shook his head to clear it of the lascivious thoughts that had started to creep in.   
“Thank you, Beverly,” he dismissed the woman. His voice was deep and soft, making Shepard shiver slightly. She simply slipped through the curtain without a word.  
“Commander Shepard,” the man laced his manicured fingers on the desk in front of him. The blotter beneath his hands was dated 15 years ago. “To what do we owe this honor?” Shepard had to pause before he could speak, this man was having a very strange effect on him.  
“Listen…Mayor,” Shepard hesitated. What was this man’s title? Beverly had not said. “We have a simple mission here on Irdu and were going to see that you guys were all Okay and not being harassed by the Geth.”  
“Oh my,” The mayor lisped in feigned alarm. “Geth. Certainly not.” He looked Shepard in the eye and he was now certain that they were a deep green color. “I can assure you, we are just fine here on Irdu. Now tell me about your mission. We do not see very many visitors out this way.” There was a slippery quality to his voice that made Shepard uncomfortable. He could not pinpoint what it was exactly, but he was not about to divulge any more information then he absolutely had to.  
“We need to speak with a few of your people,” Shepard was not willing to play whatever game the mayor was attempting. The object the Salarian was so interested in had already been located by a scan on the surrounding area. It would be a matter of only a couple of hours to retrieve it and return. His real concern right now was the strange behavior of the colony. The large greens eyes held his without wavering.  
“That is not really an answer,” the mayor’s eyes twinkled in the low light. “But if that is what you want, please feel free. They will be gathering for the evening meal at dusk. If you would care to join them it is simply two doors down.” He gestured carelessly to his left. “Now if you will excuse me, I have some things to take care of. I will also see to your accommodations for the night.”  
“We will not be staying,” he said in response. “Now that we know that the colony is not under attack, we will return to the Normandy as soon as we are finished.”  
“Certainly you will stay for the evening meal at least.” It was not a question. “I will make sure everything is ready while you do your running around in the wilds of Irdu. Those Salarians can be so careless with their belongings.”  
No one spoke for a long moment after they were left alone in the cramped dark office.  
“How did he know what we were looking for?” Liara finally asked the question they were all thinking.  
“I feel we should perhaps not linger here any longer than we must,” Garrus said. “Whatever is going on here has the potential to turn violent, just like Zhu’s Hope.”  
“We cannot just leave here without figuring out what is going on,” Shepard said. “If it is the Thorian or something like it, we need to make sure it is contained or eliminated before we leave.”  
“Yes, Commander,” Liara said. She was looking at her data pad as she spoke. “If we hurry, we can reach the location of the object in under 2 hours.”

 

The trip both to and from the site was uneventful. Though the item was not quite what they had expected. The crate was damaged beyond repair when they found it, and the contents had spilled out onto the ground. Nothing looked like it had been exposed to the elements very long so they collected everything and stashed it in the Mako. On closer inspection, the items proved to be data disks. Data disks of exotic and depraved pornography.   
Shepard quickly turned off the display of his pad and returned the disk to the pile. That damned Salarian better hold his end of the bargain up, Shepard thought darkly as the already weak sun began to set behind a ridge. This had been nothing but a pain in the ass since they agreed to take the mission.  
“Nothing is showing up in the scans,” Liara said, looking up from her data pad. “I am looking at the results now, and all indicators that would suggest the Thorian was here are absent. I have confirmed these results with the Normandy data base.”  
“That does not mean it isn’t,” Shepard said firmly.   
“Yes, absence of evidence does not prove anything,” Liara agreed. Garrus gave a grunt that may have been agreement or annoyance, but nothing else.  
“We will meet with the other colonists when we get back.” Shepard felt the Mako bounce on the uneven ground. Someone really needed to look at the design of these infernal machines. “I will decide if we can call this colony clear after that,” He said firmly as the colony in question came into view. It looked even more ragged from the outside. The surrounding fence was in such poor repair that it looked like the peeling bark of an ash tree. Lucky for the colony there were no large predators on this world, only harmless herbivores and fox sized carnivores. Neither came anywhere near Irdu.  
Now that he thought about it, that was a bit odd as well. The scan of the planet had showed no life forms other than the colonists in a wide radius around Irdu. What had they done to keep the local fauna so far away? The land around the colony was wild and over grown; it should have been a perfect habitat for native species. This was looking less and less good.  
The Mako bounced to a stop and Shepard opened the doors. Maybe they should have worn protective gear. It had not seemed likely that there would be any hazards to their health here, but now he was not so sure.  
The streets were eerily silent as they stepped out of the vehicle. There were no people anywhere to be seen as they made their way down the darkening streets; Shepard looked inside the poorly protected homes and offices along the way. There was no indication that anyone had been in any of them for quite some time. No street lights came on to light their way and by the time they reached the communal dining hall, they had been forced to turn on their flash lights to see where they were going.  
“Are we certain this is the right place?” Garrus asked, listening carefully for any sounds coming from inside the makeshift dining hall. No clink or rattle of plates, or chatter and burble of people enjoying a meal with friends and family.  
“It is two doors down from the Mayor’s office,” Liara said, sounding uncertain.  
“Only one way to find out,” Shepard pulled the door open. This was one of the few structures that had an actual door, he noted. Light spilled out into the street and the smell of warm food followed it. At least that was normal, but still almost no sounds came from the hall.  
Cautiously the trio entered, looking around in disbelief. The entire colony must have been in there, but none of them made a sound, or reacted to the presence of three strangers. Everyone sat in orderly rows, heads slightly bowed, with their eyes downcast. Each had a plate of food in front of them, but only a few picked at it listlessly.   
“Ah, Commander Shepard,” The mayor’s voice was unnaturally loud in the quiet hall, making Shepard flinch involuntarily. While on their way to and from their mission site they had looked up the names of all of the original colonists and looked at their bios and files. They found Beverly, the young woman at the port. Improbable a it was, Beverly Martin looked exactly as she had a quarter century ago, just with less color. Others here were also familiar. However none matched the man who claimed to be the leader of this strange group. “Glad you could make it to dinner. Please join us.” He gestured to the table he occupied. There were 4 others with him, 3 women and another man. Like the mayor, none of them matched the files for the original colonists.   
These 5 were very different from the colonists at the common tables, they all looked healthy and alert, their skin was bright and smooth and their hair shiny. In a word, they looked alive. This was even more disturbing then the thought of the Thorian making a comeback. This was clearly something entirely different.  
“I didn’t catch your name earlier, Mayor,” Shepard remained just out of reach. Was this man dangerous?  
“No, I suppose you did not,” the man agreed, eyes dancing with mirth. “You can call me Dale.”  
“I assume that is not your name, then.” Garrus spoke up.  
“In a way it is.” A slight smile twisted the thin lips. “In a way it is not. Names are funny that way.”  
“Who are you?” Shepard demanded his voice was loud enough that it should have gotten the attention of the colonists at the table nearest them, but they kept mechanically eating the food in front of them, seeming oblivious to anything going on around them.  
“I am who I am, Commander Shepard,” Dale said calmly, earning a slight chuckle from his companions. “Mostly I am the caretaker of this little community. Without us, they would have died out long ago.”  
“They do not look terrible lively now,” Liara interjected, still watching the hall for any sign that the people gathered here were aware of anything.  
“There is a price to pay for everything,” Dale agreed. “We do not get many visitors out this way.”  
“You said that before,” Shepard said. “Are you saying that this colony cannot be self-sustaining? If so, we need to evacuate it.”  
“Self-sustaining or not, you sometimes need new blood.” Shepard shivered at the comment and the wicked gleam in the mayor’s eye. He was uncomfortably aware that the others at the head table were eyeing him suspiciously as well. A bit like a man left to eat MREs for too long now looking at a juicy steak. He could not help but notice that all of them were uncommonly attractive as well. At first he tried to tell himself it was because they did not look like drained husks like the rest of the colonists, but he finally had to admit it was more than that. They were simply striking.  
“I can make arrangements for the transfer of these colonists to a more suitable location once we return to the Normandy,” Shepard had to work to not take a step backwards and he gestured toward the silent diners. This man was starting to make him very uncomfortable, it was now clear that there was no threat from the Thorian here, whatever the threat was; it came from the 5 people sitting in front of him. “He had no intention of relocating the colony to a more traveled area, he would recommend it be quarantined for an indefinite amount of time, until it could be determined exactly what the problem was down here.  
“That would be acceptable, Commander Shepard,” Dale had not taken his eyes from Shepard’s face. “What shame that you will not be able to return to your ship until tomorrow. The storm is certain to last through the night.”  
“Storm? What stor – “Liara did not finish her sentence before the building was shaken by a violent booming clap of thunder.   
“We have flown in worse weather,” Shepard frowned. Was it simply long acquaintances with the weather patterns of this planet or something more sinister? None of the people at the tables reacted to the noise.  
“It is just getting warmed up, Commander,” Dale insisted. In about 15 minutes there will be enough electricity in the air to light up the old Earth cities for days. Your best bet is to remain here until it passes. You can stay in the cabins here in the hall. The rest of the good folk here will be heading to their own rooms shortly.  
As if that had been their cue, the colonists all stood at once, still stonily silent and removed their trays. One by one they dropped the empty dishes onto a shelf and walked silently from the room, exiting through a door none of them had noticed before.  
“Won’t they be hurt?” Liara asked, worried.  
“They are only going to the adjacent building; they will not being going outside.” Dale’s voice had taken on an almost bored tone. “Now, we just need to get you set up rooms.”  
They looked at each other and the floor shook from the force of the next lightning strike. It seemed to be almost constant now and the sound of crackling and sizzling was getting more intense. Shepard crossed to the door and looked out; it was like a plasma ball toy, but nowhere near as harmless. Streaks of forked lightning tore holes in the landscape and left him blinking to try to clear his vision.  
“This cannot be a usual occurrence,” Liara frowned at the light show outside. We would have seen evidence of this on the landscape.”  
“You are correct,” Dale said calmly, still seated at his spot at the head of the table. “It is a rare occurrence; you came at the wrong time. This only happens in the spring, but the time fall comes around the rains have smoothed everything back out. You would never know.”  
The explanation did not sit well with Shepard, but he was not willing to risk the lives of his crew attempting to get to the hanger in this.  
“You are expecting this to go on all night?” He asked.  
“Oh yes,” Dale sounded oddly pleased. “Most likely until after the sun rises tomorrow.”

 

Yes, he had been in better accommodations, but he had also been in worse. The joys of military service did at least give a person the ability to sleep almost anywhere. He folded his hands behind his head and stared into the dark. The sound of the unlikely storm outside was still loud. It seemed to have escalated in intensity and was now so loud that he could no longer hear Liara and Garrus in the rooms on either side of him. Of course they were probably not making any noise for him to hear. He let the crackling and rumbling lull him into a semi aware state.  
“You would think they would have better insulation in these things,” Kaidan said as he slipped his shirt off and hung in over the same chair Shepard had deposited his jacket. “The noise will keep us up for sure.” He sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled off his boots. Shepard stared in dumb founded silence as he watched the muscles move under Kaidan’s dark skin. He had often dreamed of seeing Kaidan like this, but having him this close was making him distinctly uncomfortable. There was also something very wrong about this somehow, but just as he thought he was about to wrap his head around it he looked back at the man he had desired for so many months and all the thoughts flew out of his head again.   
“You are such a bed hog, John.” Kaidan’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “Move over, or I will be forced to move you over.” Shepard could not help but return the smile.  
“Will you now?” He raised one eye brow. “How do you propose to do that?”  
“Easy,” Kaidan pounced without warning, wedging himself between Shepard and the wall and wiggled and pushed until one hip rested on the lumpy bedding. John had not moved intentionally, in fact, he would not have been able to move had he wanted to. The site of a half-naked Kaidan above him had caused his brain to quit functioning entirely. “Really, John?” Kaidan was still laughing. “Why are you acting so weird? Just let me on the bed and we can get some sleep.”  
Shepard shook his head and sheepishly moved to the side, scooting far enough that he felt the edge of the mattress. He rolled to his side to avoid falling off and turned his back to Kaidan. He needed to think. There was something he needed to remember. Something important about Kaidan. At last he thought it might be about Kaidan.  
“No need to be like that,” Kaidan purred in his ear as a warm arm slipped around his waist. “It isn’t like anyone will hear us.” His hot wet tongue ran slowly around the shell of Shepard’s ear.  
“What are you doing, Kaidan?” Shepard remained as still as possible. He was suddenly terrified of what was happening. Hadn’t he wanted this? Why was he resisting now that it was being offered? The storm continued to rage and rumble outside as Kaidan’s hand slowly slipped under his shirt and began to trace a lazy path up to his chest.  
“Can’t you tell? Surely you can figure that out.” Kaidan’s voice remained warm and teasing. “Unless you just need me to show you.” John felt himself being rolled onto his back, but before he could protest Kaidan covered his mouth with the softest lips he had ever felt. It was even better than he had dreamed, and he had dreamed of this often in the time he had known Kaidan.  
The kiss went on, even past the point where John needed air, but Kaidan’s hand were everywhere and he ignored his screaming lungs as nimble, rough fingers found their way to the waistband of his pants.  
“Feels like you are not as hesitant as you wanted me to believe,” Kaidan teased as he slid his hand into the fabric, running his fingers along the hard shaft still trapped inside. “Seems to me you are enjoying this.”  
“Stop talking,” Shepard groaned, arching his hips up to meet the hot hand.  
“Yes, sir,’ Kaidan purred and kissed him again. The kiss was possessive and demanding, leaving Shepard’s head spinning as heat built in the pit of his stomach. Everything was spiraling out of control, he was powerless to stop any of it. His heart began to pound and he felt sweat roll down his chest, there was no way he was not going to end this embarrassingly soon, but it was all so perfect.  
“Don’t hold back,” Kaidan whispered in his ear. “We have all night and every night after.”  
With a shout, Shepard lost the last bit of control he had. The sound was muffled by Kaidan’s mouth and the raging storm, but it felt like it went on forever. Wave after wave until he could not even tell which way was up. It felt like he was drunk and the room was spinning. It may have been the most intense experience of his life.  
Cautiously, Shepard opened his eyes once the worst of the dizziness had passed to see Kaidan licking his wet fingers clean like a cat.  
“Delicious.” The dark eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire. “I knew you would be.”  
Mortified, Shepard threw one arm over his eyes and felt his cheeks burn. What would Liara and Garrus think if they found out what had just happened? They thought felt sluggish, like he was thinking through sand. Liara and Garrus. Something about Liara and Garrus.  
“I think the storm is letting up.” Shepard listened to the now quiet around them.  
“Good,” Kaidan said. “Let’s go back to the ship now and make our reports. It isn’t like we need any of these freaks to show us how to get there.” He climbed across Shepard and reached for his shirt.  
“What about Liara and Garrus?” Shepard asked, still feeling like his head was packed with cotton.  
“What about them?” Kaidan asked, pausing with his shirt halfway over his head. “We can tell them anything they need to know about this colony after later.”  
“We need to go wake them up,” John felt so sleepy all of a sudden. The more he thought about it the more tired he became. “We can’t leave without them.”  
“What are you talking about?” Kaidan shoved his foot down into one boot and tossed one of John’s to him. “They are on the Normandy. How could we leave without them?”  
“That’s not right. That can’t be right,” Shepard insisted. He closed his eyes and struggled to clear the cobwebs from his head. Liara and Garrus had been with him, he was almost sure of it. He remembered them standing with him in that little office while he spoke with the mayor. The mayor with his bright olive eyes and glossy hair. The mayor and his friends at the head table, they all looked so healthy and alive. His mind kept going back to the man called Dale. There was something not right about him.  
“Do you need a medical checkup? What is wrong with you?” Kaidan asked, reaching to run his fingers through Shepard’s short hair. His olive green eyes were sparkling.  
Green eyes? Kaidan’s eyes were brown. Weren’t they?  
“Commander?” A voice at the door interrupted his train of thought. “Commander? Open up.” It was Liara.  
“The storm has stopped and there is something not right going on here, we need to leave now, sir.”  
That was Garrus. If Liara and Garrus were here, he had not also brought Kaidan along. He looked up hesitantly. He was almost afraid to see.  
“Yes, John,” Dale grinned a Cheshire cat grin. “There is something very not right here.” The incubus laughed. “I think we should all go back to your ship now. It has been much too long since we have seen anyone new around here. It is time for us to move on and you have opportunely provided us with our means of egress. Most kind of you.”


End file.
